ARTIST STATEMENT:Being a guest on this land (from Nunatsiavut), it is important to me to honor and respect the Natives of Massachusetts. I spent this past summer, researching and drafting this 235-word piece, "All Four Directions" for accuracy and educational purposes. Once I finished, I painted it on a 36X 48 X 1.5 cotton duck.I recorded the poem in my own voice for the listener to experience the heart and pain felt by the Natives that live(d) here first.The original hangs in Room 1D at the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB) and was funded by the City of Boston and the UnMonument. It has been a pleasure to create, and I am grateful.BIO:Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz is a Labrador Inuk educator, poet, small business owner, visual artist, and writer. She enjoyed the 2021 Banff Centre for ArWts and Creativity "Write Over Here: Openonline Rezidency" and Poet-Author “Voices of Color” Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. Her 2022 studio residency from Easthampton City Arts solidified her life as a painter.Alkiewicz received grants from 2022 Valley Creates Project Evolution Grant and Mass. Cultural Council Cultural Sector Recovery, 2023, plus is a 2025 Honored Listee of "Marquis' Who Who in America."Alkiewicz's written work has been published in "Cultural Survival, Inuktitut, Lucky Jefferson," and more.Her artwork has shown in "You Were Made for This World," and in galleries and nonprofits across Massachusetts along with in Istanbul, Turkey; Varna, Bulgaria; Toronto, Ontario. She is a beneficiary of Nunatsiavut Government, a dual citizen, an Investor with the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, and a member of North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB).Alkiewicz holds bachelor’s degrees in teaching and journalism with Certificate in Native American Indian Studies, and an MFA in nonfiction writing. She lives and works in Northampton, Mass. with her family.
